SD Unified approves restoring some H.R. jobs

A divided San Diego school board voted Tuesday to spend $600,000 to add five management jobs to its human resources department, an unbudgeted expense that comes amid ongoing fiscal uncertainty in a district that has not yet ruled out layoffs for next year.

The board voted 3-2, with board President John Lee Evans and trustees Scott Barnett and Richard Barrera approving the measure. Board Vice President Kevin Beiser and trustee Marne Foster rejected the personnel plan.

Under the human resources reorganization, the district will begin restoring cuts made to its central office over recent years.

The human resources staff has been cut by 38 percent since 2006, making it difficult for the department to recruit new employees or perform key services for the district’s 14,000 employees during a stressful period of downsizing, said Deputy Superintendent Phil Stover.

During the past six years, the school board has approved broad cost-cutting measures to cope with the state’s fiscal crisis, such as reducing the academic year by five days through furlough days, eliminating classroom programs and cutting school bus transportation.

Beiser and Foster questioned the timing of the personnel boost since Gov. Jerry Brown is expected to release a preliminary state budget on Thursday, a proposed spending plan expected to give public schools a glimpse at their projected funding streams for next year.

“Right now is not the time,” Beiser said at Tuesday’s meeting. “In two days, we will have a better idea of our budget. I don’t think at this point in time we have a clear picture of our budget.”

The new jobs were endorsed by the district’s labor council, a group of representatives from employee unions. Stover said it is unusual for the council to call for management jobs, which he said underscores how desperately the district needs the positions.